Two new Independent Institute books exam-

ine vital but little-known stories about entre-

preneurship in developing countries today and in

Great Britain during the Industrial Revolution.

Lessons from the PoorNews stories about developing countries seem

to focus on natural disasters, grinding poverty, and

political repression. There are, however, success

stories that receive little publicity. As is shown in

Lessons from the Poor: Triumph of the Entrepreneur-

ial Spirit, edited by Independent Institute Senior

Fellow Alvaro Vargas Llosa, developing countries

offer numerous examples of hard-working vision-

aries who have pulled themselves and their work-

ers out of poverty through entrepreneurship.

Lessons from the Poor provides an in-depth

look at some of the most dynamic enterprises

from Africa and Latin America. Its case studies

The Second Amendment and the War on Ter-

ror were the topics of recent Independent

Policy Forums held at the Institute’s offices in

Washington, D.C., and Oakland, California.

The Right to Bear ArmsIn District of Columbia v. Heller, the U.S.

Supreme Court decided that the constitutional

“right of the people to keep and bear arms” is an

individual right held by all, rather than a “collective

right” to maintain an armed militia. Independent

Institute Research Fellow Stephen P. Halbrook

and George Mason University Law School legal

historian Joyce Lee Malcolm examined this issue

at the June 9 event, “Is the Second Amendment an

Individual Right?” On July 2, Halbrook was joined

in Oakland by Research Fellow Don B. Kates, Jr.,

VOLUME 18, NUMBER 3FALL 2008

IN THIS ISSUE:Forums on Second Amendment, War on Terror....1

Books on Entrepreneurship and Coinage ..............1

President’s Letter ................................................... 2

The Independent Review ....................................... 3

Independent Institute in the News ....................... 4

Independent Scholarship Fund .............................6

Independent Institute Gala Dinner ...................... 8

(continued on page 7)

New Books Explore Lessons in Private Entrepreneurship

Forums on Second Amendment, War on Terror

(continued on page 5)

JAM

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Stephen P. Halbrook, Joyce Lee Malcolm, and Don B. Kates, Jr., address the Independent Policy Forum.

The INDEPENDENT2

President’s Letter:

Feeling the Oil Price Squeeze

Americans are feeling

the squeeze as com-

bined pro-war and anti-

development policies sky-

rocket the price of gasoline.

A Bloomberg article notes

that the spike in oil prices

to record highs has resulted

from concerns about preparations “to attack Iran,

while a strike in Brazil and renewed militant activity

in Nigeria threaten to cut supplies.”

Meanwhile, many politicos and environmental

groups oppose ending oil development restrictions

in the U.S., especially in offshore drilling. Barack

Obama, Al Gore, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Nancy

Pelosi have declared their opposition to any increase

in offshore drilling, with Gore even equating it to the

invasion of Iraq. Never mind the fact that it is the

federal government that invaded and now occupies

both Iraq and the continental shelf.

Meanwhile, a chorus continues its call for U.S.

interventionism in the Mideast, guaranteeing record

oil prices on futures markets and at the pump, with

John McCain claiming that the U.S. has “succeeded

and we need to continue the strategy.” And while

Obama has called for a 16-month timetable to begin

withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq, he then wants

to send more troops to Afghanistan to fight the “real

front,” and even into Pakistan, while maintaining a

major U.S. presence in Iraq—at best shifting the war

to other fronts and more probably escalating it, with

oil prices likely to go even higher.

Better to consult our Senior Fellow Ivan Eland

on the need for the U.S. to exit Iraq and disengage

from its ill-fated and hubristic global system of 800+

bases. In this regard, the updated edition of his book,

The Empire Has No Clothes, plus that edited by Robert

Higgs and Carl Close, Opposing the Crusader State,

are must reads. And to address a real need—uplifting

billions of people worldwide from abject poverty—

our new book edited by Alvaro Vargas Llosa, Lessons

from the Poor (p. 1), could not be more timely.

To receive your FREE copy of one of the books

listed in this newsletter, including Good Money (p.

5), please join with us as an Independent Associate

Member and help expand the impact of this vital

work. With your tax-deductible membership, you can

receive free copies of new publications, including

our journal The Independent Review (p. 3), plus other

benefits (see attached reply envelope).

EXECUTIVE STAFFDAVID J. THEROUX, Founder and President

MARY L. G. THEROUX, Vice PresidentMARTIN BUERGER, Vice President & Chief Operating Officer

ALEXANDER TABARROK, Ph.D., Research DirectorBRUCE L. BENSON, Ph.D., Senior Fellow

IVAN ELAND, Ph.D., Senior FellowROBERT HIGGS, Ph.D., Senior Fellow

CHARLES V. PEÑA, Senior FellowWILLIAM F. SHUGHART II Senior FellowALVARO VARGAS LLOSA, Senior Fellow

RICHARD K. VEDDER, Ph.D., Senior FellowK. A. BARNES, Controller

CARL P. CLOSE, Academic Affairs DirectorGAIL SAARI, Publications Director

JULIANNA JELINEK, Development DirectorROY M. CARLISLE, Communications Director

WENDY HONETT, Publicity ManagerROLAND DE BEQUE, Production Manager

BOARD OF DIRECTORSGILBERT I. COLLINS, Private Equity Manager

JAMES D. FAIR, III, Chairman, Algonquin Petroleum Corp.PETER A. HOWLEY, Chairman, Western Ventures

ISABELLA S. JOHNSON, President, The Curran FoundationW. DIETER TEDE, President, Hopper Creek Winery

DAVID J. THEROUX, Founder and President, The Independent InstituteMARY L. G. THEROUX, former Chairman, Garvey International

SALLY VON BEHREN, Businesswoman

BOARD OF ADVISORSHERMAN BELz

Professor of History, University of MarylandTHOMAS BORCHERDING

Professor of Economics, Claremont Graduate SchoolBOUDEWIJN BOUCKAERT

Professor of Law, University of Ghent, BelgiumJAMES M. BUCHANAN

Nobel Laureate in Economic Science, George Mason UniversityALLAN C. CARLSON

President, Howard Center for Family, Religion, and SocietyROBERT D. COOTER

Herman F. Selvin Professor of Law, University of California, BerkeleyROBERT W. CRANDALL

Senior Fellow, Brookings InstitutionRICHARD A. EPSTEIN

James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law, University of ChicagoA. ERNEST FITzGERALD

Author, The High Priests of Waste and The PentagonistsB. DELWORTH GARDNER

Professor of Economics, Brigham Young UniversityGEORGE GILDER

Senior Fellow, Discovery InstituteNATHAN GLAzER

Professor of Education and Sociology, Harvard UniversityWILLIAM M. H. HAMMETT

Former President, Manhattan InstituteRONALD HAMOWY

Emeritus Professor of History, University of Alberta, CanadaSTEVE H. HANKE

Professor of Applied Economics, Johns Hopkins UniversityRONALD MAX HARTWELL

Emeritus Professor of History, Oxford UniversityJAMES J. HECKMAN

Nobel Laureate in Economic Science, University of ChicagoH. ROBERT HELLER

President, International Payments InstituteWENDY KAMINER

Contributing Editor, The Atlantic MonthlyLAWRENCE A. KUDLOW

Chief Executive Officer, Kudlow & CompanyJOHN R. MacARTHUR

Publisher, Harper’s MagazineDEIRDRE N. McCLOSKEY

Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Univ. of Illinois at ChicagoJ. HUSTON McCULLOCH

Professor of Economics, Ohio State UniversityFORREST McDONALD

Distinguished University Research Professor of History, University of AlabamaTHOMAS GALE MOORE

Senior Fellow, Hoover InstitutionCHARLES MURRAY

Senior Fellow, American Enterprise InstituteMICHAEL NOVAK

Jewett Chair in Religion and Public Policy, American Enterprise InstituteJUNE E. O’NEILL

Director, Center for the Study of Business and Government, Baruch CollegeCHARLES E. PHELPS

Provost and Professor of Political Science and Economics, University of RochesterPAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

Chairman, Institute of Political EconomyNATHAN ROSENBERG

Fairleigh S. Dickinson, Jr. Professor of Economics, Stanford UniversitySIMON ROTTENBERG

Professor of Economics, University of MassachusettsPAUL H. RUBIN

Professor of Economics and Law, Emory UniversityBRUCE M. RUSSETT

Dean Acheson Professor of International Relations, Yale UniversityPASCAL SALIN

Professor of Economics, University of Paris, FranceVERNON L. SMITH

Nobel Laureate in Economic Science, George Mason UniversityJOEL H. SPRING

Professor of Education, State University of New York, Old WestburyRICHARD L. STROUP

Professor of Economics, Montana State UniversityTHOMAS S. SzASz

Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, State University of New York, SyracuseROBERT D. TOLLISON

Robert M. Hearin Chair and Professor of Economics, University of MississippiARNOLD S. TREBACH

Professor of Criminal Justice, American UniversityGORDON TULLOCK

University Professor of Law and Economics, George Mason UniversityGORE VIDAL

Author, Burr, Lincoln, 1876, The Golden Age, and other booksRICHARD E. WAGNER

Hobart R. Harris Professor of Economics, George Mason UniversitySIR ALAN WALTERS

Vice Chairman, AIG Trading CorporationPAUL H. WEAVER

Author, News and the Culture of Lying and The Suicidal CorporationWALTER E. WILLIAMS

Distinguished Professor of Economics, George Mason UniversityCHARLES WOLFE, Jr.

Senior Economist and Fellow, International Economics, RAND Corporation

THE INDEPENDENT (ISSN 1047-7969): newsletter of the Independent Institute. Copyright ©2008, The Independent Institute, 100 Swan Way, Oakland, CA 94621-1428 • 510-632-1366 • Fax: 510-568-6040 • Email: info@independent .org • www.independent.org.

The INDEPENDENT 3

The Independent Review continues its tradi-

tion of solid scholarship on a wide variety

of important topics. Below are some highlights

from the Summer 2008 issue.

Social Security and MedicareDo today’s retirees understand that they would

have a pension two, three, or more times larger

than their Social Security pension if they had

been allowed to invest their FICA taxes in stocks?

Probably not. Although many have noted that the

aging population threatens the solvency of the

federal retirement system, few understand that

Social Security reduces savings rates and the labor

supply, which in turn slows the creation of wealth

that workers would otherwise enjoy, according to

Texas A&M economist Edgar K. Browning (“The

Anatomy of Social Security and Medicare”).

Social Security discourages people from work-

ing more because it is funded through the taxa-

tion of labor earnings. More importantly, Social

Security reduces the ability and incentive to save

for one’s own retirement, which reduces private

investment, capital accumulation, and economic

growth.

Had Social Security never been enacted, per-

sonal savings rates would have been 60 percent

higher, according to the median response of pub-

lic-finance economists in one poll. Compounded

over decades, even a modestly higher savings rate

would have led to vastly more wealth creation for

workers to enjoy.

See www.independent.org/publications/tir/ar-

ticle.asp?a=688.

What Do the Terrorists Want?Osama bin Ladin’s public statements issued

from 1994 to 2004 show a desire, not to remake

the West into Islamic societies, but to punish the

United States for foreign policies in the Muslim

world that he considers aggressive, according to

political scientist James L. Payne, author of “What

Do the Terrorists Want?”

The complaint that appears most often—

amounting to 72 percent of the 24 total docu-

ments—is bin Laden’s criticism of the United

States and other Western countries for political

and military intervention in Arab countries.

This evidence does not imply that U.S. with-

drawal from the Middle East would now pacify the

terrorists, according to Payne, but it does suggest

that the U.S. strategy for fighting terrorism has

been counterproductive.

Social Security • Terrorist Motives • Ludwig von MisesThe Independent Review

“The size of the terrorist ranks is not fixed,”

writes Payne. “Their numbers are a function of

the perception of American intrusion. Hence,

a policy of projecting military force around the

Middle East, of ‘taking the fight to the terrorists

themselves,’ actually stimulates the creation of

terrorists. As an approach to countering Islamic

terrorism, it is like trying to put out a fire by spray-

ing it with gasoline.”

See www.independent.org/publications/tir/article.

asp?a=68p.

The Life and Works of Ludwig von MisesAustrian economist Ludwig von Mises

(1881–1973) produced path-breaking critiques of

socialism, central banking, and methodological

malpractice in the social sciences, yet few studies

have been devoted to his life and contributions.

This is odd, given the esteem accorded him by

conservative and libertarian intellectuals, such as

Nobel Laureate and former colleague F. A. Hayek,

about whom many books have been written.

One reason for the paucity of books about Mis-

es is that his private papers were confiscated—and

thought to have been destroyed—by the Nazis after

Mises fled Vienna for New York City. Fortunately,

those papers survived, but they found their way

into Soviet hands and remained unknown to the

West until the 1990s.

The Independent Review, Summer 2008

(continued on page 6)

The INDEPENDENT4

The Independent Institute in the News• Center on Entrepreneurial Innovation: Senior

Fellow William F. Shughart II wrote on the

Federal Reserve for the Washington Times, on

the rising cost of oil for the Burlington County

Times, and on the economic stimulus for the

Intelligencer. His op-ed on state budget deficits

appeared in the Christian Science Monitor.

Broadcast interviews included Mississippi

Public Radio, KGAB, and WBNW. Senior

Fellow Robert Higgs was interviewed by the

San Francisco Chronicle on income inequality

and quoted by the Patriot Ledger on the same

subject. Research Fellows Ernest C. Pasour,

Jr. and Randal R. Rucker wrote on U.S. farm

policy for Investor’s Business Daily. Research

Fellow John Semmens wrote on light rail

transit for the Statesman Journal. NPR’s Justice

Talking interviewed Research Fellow Alexander

Tabarrok on private prisons. President David

J. Theroux was quoted in the San Francisco

Chronicle on labor policy.

• Center on Global Prosperity: Director

Alvaro Vargas Llosa continued to write his

internationally syndicated weekly column for

the Washington Post Writers Group. He wrote

on entrepreneurship for El Pais. TV and radio

interviews included Univision’s Al Punto,

CNN en Español, Radio Martí, Globovision,

and Voice of America. Cal Thomas’s syndicated

column, which appears in more than 400

outlets, featured a review of Vargas Llosa’s

book, Lessons from the Poor, as did National

Review. Guest columns by Research Fellow

William Ratliff on the Colombian FARC and

by Research Fellow Carlos Sabino on Latin

America appeared in the Washington Times.

• Center on Law and Justice: Research Fellow

Stephen P. Halbrook was featured on C-SPAN

discussing the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in

District of Columbia v. Heller. He wrote on the

Second Amendment for the Newark Star-Ledger,

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and Tampa Tribune.

He promoted his book, The Founders’ Second

Amendment, in more than 20 radio interviews

and an excerpt appeared in America’s 1st

Freedom. David Theroux appeared on KRON4

News to discuss gun buybacks. Research

Fellow Don B. Kates, Jr., was interviewed on

crime in Oakland, Calif., by KKGN and wrote

on gun bans and crime for the North County

Times. Research Fellows Edward P. Stringham

and Tom Means wrote on affordable housing

for the San Francisco Business Times and the Los

Angeles Business Journal.

• Center on Peace and Liberty: Director Ivan

Eland wrote on negotiating with terrorists and

radicals for the Monitor and the Phoenix, torture

and the Bush administration for the Oakland

Tribune, and the U.S. presidential election for

La Tercera. His TV and radio coverage included

Al-Jazeera, Al Hurra, and Radio Free Europe.

Robert Higgs wrote on the recession for Reason

and on war for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Senior Fellow Charles Peña appeared on BBC

to discuss threats of terrorism in UAE. He was

interviewed on national security by KPSI and

wrote on the Army Reserve for Defense News.

Research Fellow Mike Moore promoted his

book Twilight War on over 20 radio stations.

He wrote on weapons in space for Florida

Today and the San Jose Mercury News. Research

Fellow Ian S. Lustick discussed his War on

Terror policy report on KPSI. Research Analyst

Anthony Gregory wrote on habeas corpus for

the San Diego Union-Tribune and the East Valley

Tribune, as did Research Fellow William J.

Watkins for the North County Times.

For additional media coverage of the

Independent Institute, please visit www.

independent.org/newsroom/. •

Independent Institute Senior Fellow Alvaro Vargas Llosa on CNN en Español.

Independent Institute Research Fellow Stephen P. Halbrook on C-SPAN.

The INDEPENDENT 5

Praise for

Lessons from the Poor“Lessons from the Poor provides informative case studies of how good government has fostered entrepreneurship and economic development in poor countries.”— Marc C. Casson, Professor of Economics;

Director, Centre for Institutional Perfor-mance, University of Reading, England

“An optimistic triumph and a lesson about the unlim-ited capacity of the human spirit, properly inspired and unencumbered…ought to be read in every school and in every home.”— Cal Thomas, syndicated columnist

Praise for Good Money“George Selgin’s understanding of eighteenth-century economic theory and practice is absolute, allowing him to write with verve and clarity.”— Richard Doty, Curator of Numismatics,

Smithsonian Institution

“George Selgin’s story of how private enterprise solved a monetary problem that threatened seriously to retard the Industrial Revolution is a splendid piece of historical analysis.”— Milton Friedman, 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize

winner in Economics

George Selgin recounts this fascinating and

important yet almost unknown story in his new

book, Good Money : Birmingham Button Makers, the

Royal Mint, and the Beginnings of Modern Coinage,

1775–1821.

In the summer of 1787, Selgin explains, the

owner of a copper mine in Wales began to pay his

workers using coins he minted himself. Over the

next decade, private merchants and industrialists

(many of them button makers) issued 600 tons of

custom-made “commercial” copper coin—more

copper coin than the Royal Mint had supplied

during the previous half century.

In 1789, Matthew Boulton became the leading

coin maker by opening the most sophisticated

mint in the world. Eight years later he landed

a long-desired contract to coin money for the

Crown. Eventually, he helped modernize the Royal

explain how entrepreneurs have succeeded despite

major obstacles, often the result of decades or

even centuries of bad government policies. They

also show how the elimination of tariffs and other

trade barriers enabled small-scale entrepreneurs

to leverage their successes by reaching millions

more customers.

Readers will learn how a family farm in the

Peruvian countryside—an area then controlled

by Maoist rebels—developed a soft-drink business

that, in some markets, challenges the dominance

of Coca-Cola. They will see how a man who

washed cars for a living became a literal rags-to-

riches business titan with textile operations on

three continents. They will learn how an entrepre-

neur in Kenya helped revolutionize retail in his

country by supplying customers with thousands

of products they had never seen before and by

earning unprecedented loyalty from his workers.

They will also learn about the fascinating work-

ings of Nigeria’s adire clothing design industry

and Argentina’s barter clubs.

An important contribution to the literature on

economic development, Lessons from the Poor is a

must-read for global investors, micro-enterprise

lenders, political economists, international rela-

tions specialists, and anyone interested in helping

the poor find a way out of poverty.

To order this book, see the enclosed envelope or

go to www.independent.org/store/book_detail.

asp?bookID=73.

Private Enterprise and Modern CoinageIt is a long-held myth that governments are

fit to coin money. In fact, in the late 1700s, Great

Britain’s Royal Mint presided over a coin short-

age, and had private coin-makers not come to the

rescue, the Industrial Revolution would not have

hit full stride.

New Books: Lessons from the Poor • Good Money (continued from page 1)

(continued on page 7)

The INDEPENDENT6

The Independent Review: Ludwig von Mises (continued from page 3)

Jörg Guido Hülsmann put Mises’s papers

to good use while researching his impressive

biography, Mises: The Last Knight of Liberalism

(2007)—a scholarly yet readable tome that sheds

much needed light on its subject. Richard Ebeling,

who has also studied the Mises papers, offers his

insights about the book in “The Life and Works

of Ludwig von Mises.”

“A monumental effort has clearly gone into

this study,” writes Ebeling. “The author’s fluency

in all of the relevant languages has assured that

practically everything that occurred in Mises’s life

has been incorporated into the narrative.”

See www.independent.org/publications/tir/

article.asp?a=692. To subscribe to The Indepen-

dent Review, see www.independent.org/store/tir/

subscriptions.asp.•

Few things are as fulfilling

as making a real difference

in a child’s life. It is sometimes

surprising how inspiring just

believing in a child can be. Henry

James understood the underlying principle when

he said, “To believe in a child is to believe in the

future. Through their aspirations they will save

the world.”

Yet, twenty-five years after the seminal Nation-

al Commission on Educational Excellence report,

“A Nation at Risk,” the nation’s devastating public

school crisis continues to threaten our future,

not improving any objective measure. Millions of

students continue to be trapped in failing or even

dangerous schools merely because of where they

live. Indeed, Independent Institute Fellow John

Merrifield described the last two decades of effort

nationwide as “little more than micromanagement

and frustration.”

Just outside of the Independent Institute’s

Oakland, Calif., office is one of the largest school

districts in the country, with an astounding 52

percent dropout rate and 36 percent

of the students attending schools

that don’t meet even the most basic

standards of “No Child Left Be-

hind.” Overlooking many underly-

ing problems, some have simplistically chalked

up such dismal results as resulting from “a lack

of leadership” or “political will,” with little men-

tion of the shortcomings of politics itself. A 2007

study of California schools, for example, painted

a picture of a complex, irrational, restrictive

school finance and governance system, plagued

by one-size-fits-all rules and in need of overhaul

from the top down. Such systems are plagued by

well-organized special interests and overwhelming

political inertia.

Part of a national grassroots movement provid-

ing privately funded vouchers for disadvantaged

children, the Independent Scholarship Fund (ISF)

was established in 1999 to provide an alternative

to chronically low-achieving, unsafe, inefficient,

and ineffective public schools. ISF assists children

in one of the hardest-hit areas of the country—the

San Francisco East Bay, including Oakland—by

giving them an immediate alternative to the public

education crisis and demonstrating that competi-

tive, innovative, community-based approaches can

revolutionize the educational system and improve

the quality of education that children receive,

benefiting society as a whole. Since its inception,

ISF has awarded more than $2.5 million to K–12

students from low- to moderate-income house-

holds for tuition to the private or parochial school

of their choice.

If you’d like to learn more about how you can

make a real difference, please visit www.indepen-

dent.org/students/isf/contribute.asp today and

make a donation to this very important work! Or

for additional information on how your student

can receive an ISF scholarship, please visit www.

independent.org/students/isf/eligibility.asp.•

The Independent Scholarship Fund: Believe in the Future

Help make a difference by donating to the Indepen-dent Scholarship Fund.

The INDEPENDENT 7

New Publications & Eventswww.independent.org

To Order Any time 1-800-927-8733

Independent Policy Forums: The Right to Bear Arms • War on Terror (continued from page 1)

author of Armed: New Perspectives on Gun Control,

for a discussion on “What the Second Amend-

ment Means Today.”

The right to keep and bear arms, according

to Malcolm, began as a duty for Englishmen to

keep certain weapons for self-protection and com-

munity security. During the Glorious Revolution

(1688), a bill of rights was drafted that affirmed a

right to bear arms for all (Protestant) men.

Halbrook drew on his timely new book, The

Founders’ Second Amendment: Origins of the Right

to Bear Arms. In 1774, the colonial governor of

Massachusetts attempted to disarm Bostonians.

By mid-1775, the Continental Congress passed a

declaration supporting the taking up of arms and

cited the seizure of arms in Boston as one of the

causes of the revolutionary war.

In 1789, James Madison proposed in the

House of Representatives a declaration of rights,

including what became the Second Amendment.

Tench Coxe, a famous Federalist, then published a

commentary noting that the provision recognized

a right to “private arms” in order to prevent a

standing army from oppressing the people.

Transcripts and audio files of these events are

available at www.independent.org/store/events.

The War on TerrorHow real is the threat of terrorism in the

U.S.? How has “regime change” in the Middle

East affected U.S. security? These questions and

more were addressed at the April 15 Independent

Policy Forum, “Is the ‘War on Terror’ Creating

Terrorism?”

The reason foreign terrorists haven’t struck

New Books: Lessons from the Poor • Good Money (continued from page 5)

Mint by equipping its new building with steam-

powered coining equipment, but that proved to

be a costly mistake: It enabled the government to

renege on its promise to let him go on supplying

British copper coins. By 1817, the government

forced all but a few private coin issuers to close

down.

Good Money not only examines the crucial

role of private coinage in fueling Great Britain’s

Industrial Revolution, but it also challenges beliefs

upon which all modern government-currency

monopolies rest. In doing so, it sheds light on

contemporary private-sector alternatives to govern-

ment-issued money, such as digital monies, cash

cards, electronic funds transfer, and (outside of the

United States) spontaneous “dollarization.”

To order this book, go to www.independent.org/

store/book_detail.asp?bookID=75.•

Gareth Porter and Ian Lustick address the Indepen-dent Policy Forum.

JAM

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in the U.S. since 9/11 has little to do with effec-

tive countermeasures, according to Ian Lustick

(University of Pennsylvania), who drew on his

Independent Policy Report, Our Own Strength

Against Us: The War on Terror As a Self-Inflicted

Disaster.

The “war on terror,” he argued, was largely

hype manufactured to rally support for a war in

Iraq that was sought before 9/11. Its effect, how-

ever, has been to increase Islamic support for the

radical jihad movement abroad and to increase

domestic support for bogus spending programs

that help politicians get reelected.

Investigative journalist Gareth Porter (Inter

Press Service) followed by examining the mili-

tary’s contribution to this state of affairs. Coun-

terterrorism, he argued, was not something the

Pentagon brass had much expertise or interest in,

but they did understand and support the concept

of “regime change,” owing in part to the military

budget increases it would entail.

A transcript and audio file of this event is available

at www.independent.org.org/store/events.•

The INDEPENDENT8N

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As we identify individuals deserving special

recognition, the Independent Institute hosts

the Alexis de Tocqueville Awards dinner—slated

for September 16 at the St. Regis Hotel in San

Francisco at 6:30 p.m.—in recognition of and

in sincere thanks to those select individuals who

have made exceptional contributions to humanity

in advancing the ideas and ideals of liberty, entre-

preneurship, innovation, and the rule of law. This

year promises to be one you won’t want to miss

as we plan to honor the following distinguished

individuals:

• Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the world-renowned

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate who, as Chairman of

the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in

South Africa, brought a peaceful settlement to the

end of Apartheid and has since worked tirelessly

throughout the world to champion democracy, the

sacredness of human life, and individual rights.

• Andy Garcia, the Academy Award–nominated,

Havana-born actor, director, and producer, whose

Tutu, Garcia, and Bowes to Be Honored

38 films include For Love or Country: The Arturo

Sandoval Story (2000), The Lost City (2005), The

Godfather: Part III (1990), When a Man Loves a

Woman (1994), Ocean’s Eleven (2001), and The

Untouchables (1987). Mr. Garcia has been a leader

in highlighting the plight of the Cuban people and

seeking solutions through enterprise-based eco-

nomic development and the protection of civil and

economic liberties throughout Latin America.

• The pioneering business leader and philanthro-

pist William K. Bowes, Jr., Founding Partner of

U.S. Venture Partners, Mr. Bowes is being hon-

ored for his work in business entrepreneurship

and science and for utilizing private, free market/

enterprise-based innovations to greatly enhance

the welfare of people in the U.S. and worldwide.

With the many partisan dinner events to be

held this fall around the upcoming U.S. elections,

A Gala for Liberty should stand out uniquely in

terms of its enduring value, message, timeliness,

and historic proportions.

To purchase tickets or for additional event

information, please contact Ms. JuliAnna Jelinek

at 510-632-1366 ext. 153, or email at jjelinek@

independent.org. Don’t delay, as limited seats

remain! •

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Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Andy Garcia, and Wil-liam K. Bowes, Jr. will be honored by the Independent Institute at A Gala for Liberty.

A GALA FOR LIBERTY